Temple for looms



TEMPLE FOR LOOMS Sheet Filed May 26, 1967 Fig] 13 8a 6 5 14 z 4 A 9/ m/ 15 *HH Mil lnvemon Erwin Pforrwoller BY M M JI ZWMMW ATTORNEYS y 27, 1969 E. PFARRWALLER 3,446,250

TEMPLE FOR LOOMS Filed May 26, 1967 Sheet of 4 Fig. 3

lnvenfar: E rwin PforrwoHer BY M I ATTORNEYS May 27, 1969 Filed May 26, 1967 E. PFARRWALLER TEMPLE FOR LOOMS Sheet 3 4 lnumfor:

Erwin Pfcrrwoller BY l ATTORNEYS Ma -21.1969 i PFARRWALL'ER 3, 6, 50

TEMPLE FOR LOOMS Filed May 26, 1967 Sheet 4 of 4 Invenfor:

Erwin Pforrwoller ATTORNEYS United States Patent 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed a loom having on the cloth side of the beat-up position of the reed a temple comprising a bar extending crosswise of the loom. The bar has a slot therein in which is loosely disposed a rod wh se diameter is larger than the width of the mouth of the slot, and the cloth passes from the fell thereof into the slot, around the major portion of the periphery of the rod and out of the slot in its passage toward the cloth beam. The rod is provided, in the portions thereof engaged by the edges of the cloth, with threads of opposite hand so selected that the relative movement between the cloth and the rod, as the cloth slips over the latter, tends to stretch the cloth laterally outward away from the center of the web of cloth. This relative motion may be due entirely to the motion of the cloth, the rod being stati nary, or it may be due in part to rotation of the rod with respect to the loom frame, the rod rotating either continuously or intermittently at each pick, to move its periphery in either the same direction as that of the cloth in contact therewith or in the opposite direction. In embodiments in which the rod rotates with respect to the loom frame, its rate of rotation is chosen to produce relative motion between it and the cloth, and the handedness of the threads with reference to the passage of the cloth over the rod is chosen accordingly to produce lateral stretching of the cloth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to looms of the kind having at least one temple or spreader following, in the direction of cloth movement, the beat-up position of the reed. According to the present invention there is provided, for use in such a loom, a temple having a slot extending crosswise of the loom in which there lies freely an elongate gripper element having a thickness greater than the width of the mouth of the slot, the gripper element having screwthread-like formations over at least part of its length, and the loom including means for producing relative rotation between the gripper element and cloth wrapped around this element when the cloth is advanced by the cloth advancement means of the loom.

The relative rotation between the gripper element and the cloth produces a tendency for the cloth to move axially of the gripper element because of the screw-threadlike formations on the gripper element and accordingly the cloth may be drawn outwardly or spread. This is a simple method of providing spread to cloth and it is possible to avoid the use of needles such as are used in conventional temples. It has been found by experiment that in addition to the screw-thread-like formations relative rotation is necessary to produce a spreading action. If the gripper element is rotated only by movement of the cloth so that there is no relative rotation between the gripper element and the cloth, the temple keeps the cloth width constant or prevents substantial contraction of the cloth immediately following the beat-up position of the reed but there is no spreading of the cloth which occurs only if relative rotation is produced.

Description of the prior art In previously proposed looms there have been needle temples at the two selvages to spread the cloth by pulling its edges apart. The relatively large central area or ground of the cloth between the temples then moves freely and without guidance. During the beat-up action of the reed this large central area of the cloth may undergo a compression different from that experienced by the edge portions of the fabric. Consequently, when the reed is retracted preparatory to the next pick, the fell shift may vary across the width of the cloth. By fell shift is meant the distance through which the apex of the shed recedes towards the warp beam end of the loom as the reed is so retracted from its beat-up position. With such needle temples therefore, the finished cloth may show some distortion in the selvage areas which have passed over the temples, this distortion varying according to the yarn used. The wefts do not run straight but curve forward in the central area and backward in the selvage areas. To produce a straight weft fabric the cloth may then require separate processing. In addition, with such needle temples the warp tension must be relatively high to keep the unsupported central area of the cloth sufficiently taut, and the warp threads are therefore subjected to relatively high tensile stresses.

Summary of the invention These disadvantages can be reduced or avoided by means of the temple of the invention having a gripper member extending across the whole weaving width of the loom. The cloth is supported and guided and kept taut over its whole width including the large central area, reducing the tendency to differential compression during the beat-up movement of the reed in the selvage areas and central area and therefore the tendency to unequal fell shift and cloth distortion in the selvage areas upon retraction of the reeds. The wefts remain substantially straight so that little or no subsequent processing is required in order to produce a straight weft fabric.

The means for producing the relative rotation between the gripper element and the cloth wrapped ar und this element may take various forms. In one embodiment there is a stop member which is outside the weaving width and which prevents rotation of the gripper element. In another embodiment there is a drive connected to rotate the gripper element at a speed such that its peripheral speed is greater than the speed of movement of the cloth around it. The drive may be a continuous drive or it may be an intermittent drive such as one containing an eccen tric or crank drive coupled to a unidirectional clutch. The clutch may be coupled to the loom drive by a connecting rod joined to a lever forming the input to the clutch by a pivot, the position of the pivot along the lever being adjustable. By this means the relative speeds of the periphery of the gripper element and the cloth may be adjusted.

In a third embodiment the means for producing relative rotation contains a drive for the gripper element and a friction clutch between the drive and the gripper element, the clutch being arranged to operate the gripper element at a predetermined torque to produce a peripheral speed faster or slower than the speed of movement of cloth wrapped around the gripper element. Preferably, the torque to be transmitted by the friction clutch is adjustable, for example by adjustment of a spring pressing rubbing portions of the clutch towards each other.

Although the speed of rotation of the gripper element may be faster or slower than that of the cloth which is wrapped around it, the hand of the screw-thread-like formations must always be selected such that the relative motion will produce a spreading action on the cloth.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will now be further described in terms of a number of non-lirnitative exemplary embodiments thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a loom according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section at an enlarged scale through the temple 16 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the loom of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view similar to that of FIG. 3, showing a portion of the structure of FIG. 3 at an enlarged scale;

FIG. 5 is a plan view similar to that of FIG. 3, but showing another embodiment of the invention;

. FIGS. '6 and 7 are diagrams showing other embodiments of the invention and, in particular, other forms of drive to the rod 25 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is an axial section through the rod 25 of FIG. 5, showing a particular construction thereof.

Description of the preferred embodiment The loom of FIG. 1 comprises a warp beam 1 letting off warp yarns 2 which then pass over a back rest or sand beam 3 and through a warp stop motion 4 to form the shed 5. A reed 8 is mounted on a sley 9 which swings backwards and forwards as indicated by arrow 11 so that the weft picked by the shuttle 12 through the shed is beaten up at the fell 13. The beat-up position of the reed isdesignated 8a.

The cloth 15 moves in the direction indicated by arrow 14, passing from the fell 13 through a spreader or temple 16 presently to be described in detail over a breast beam 17, a continuously or intermittently driven cloth drawoif roller or sand beam 18 and a deflector roll 19 to the cloth beam 21 on which it is wound up.

As is seen in FIG. 2, the temple 16 includes a lower member 23 which extends across the whole weaving width 22 (FIG. 3) with its ends projecting beyond it. The lower member 23 is formed with a recess 24 which contains a gripper rod 25 and is covered by a cover plate 26 attached to the recessed member 23 by screws 32 which pass through slots 31 in the plate. Between the free edge 27 of the recessed member 23 and the free edge 28 of the cover plate there is a cloth entry and exit slot 29 having a width a which is substantially less than the diameter d of the gripper rod 25. The member 23 and plate 26 thus make up a bar extending crosswise of the loom, and having a slot 24 therein which also extends across the loom and which has a rod 25 disposed therein. 'During the beat-up movement of the reed the cloth 15 moves slightly to the left in FIG. 2, loosening it at the temple 16 so that the rod 25 and the part of the cloth which is wrapped around the rod fall back slightly into the slot 24. When the reed is retracted to the position shown therefor in full lines in FIG. 1, the traction exerted by the cloth draw-off roller 18 pulls the cloth above the cover plate 26 forward so that the rod 25 turns slightly and is lifted back into the clamping position shown. The gripper rod 25 with the cloth wrapped around it can be placed in the temple by removing the cover plate 26. The width a of the mouth 29 to slot 24 can be changed by shifting the cover plate as permitted by the slots 31, for example moving the end 28 of the cover plate further leftward and downward in FIG. 2.

The temple 16 briefly described in relation to FIGS. 1 and 2 may take various detailed forms as will now be described.

In FIG. 3 the temple is attached to the loom frame and extends beyond the selvage at both sides. At one side the extension 23a of the recessed member 23 contains a screw 34 which prevents the rod 25, which otherwise lies loosely in the recess 24 and in the Wrapped cloth, from rotating. For this purpose the rod may for example have a square end 25a against which the screw can bear.

The rod 25 has a right-hand thread 36 (FIG. 4) at the portion thereof engaged by the left selvage of the cloth in FIGS. 3 and 4, a smooth-surfaced portion 37 in'its longer, central portion, and at its right-hand end a lefthand thread 38 in the portion thereof engaged by the right-hand selvage in FIGS. 3 and 4. Only part of the cover plate 26 is indicated in FIG. 4.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 the rod 25 is held against rotation, but a relative rotary motion is produced between the rod and the cloth since the cloth is wrapped around part of the periphery of the rod and slides over that part of the rods periphery. As the cloth 15 moves around the rod it is therefore pulled out to the left in FIG. 4 on the right-hand thread 36 and to the right on the left-hand thread 38. The spreading action is similar to the axial movement of a nut which if for example screwed onto the right-hand thread 36 would move out to the left if turned in the direction of movement of the cloth, and if screwed on to the left-hand thread 38 would move out to the right if turned in the direction of movement of the cloth.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the rod 25 is rotated in the direction indicated by arrow 42 from a drive shaft .38 by way of a belt drive 39 and a pulley 41 attached to the rod. The speed of the drive is such that the peripheral speed of the rod 25 is greater than the linear speed of movement of the cloth. Relative rotation is therefore produced between the rod and cloth where they contact each other. In this embodiment the thread 36a is a left-hand thread and the thread 38a is a right-hand thread and, with the direction of rotation indicated, the cloth 15 is spread outwards on both sides.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the rod 25 is rotated discontinuously. An eccentric 43 is mounted on the loom drive shaft 40. The motion of the eccentric is transmitted by a connecting rod 44 to a lever 45. The coupling 46 of the connecting rod to the lever 45 is of the pin and slot type so that it can be effected at any point along a slot 47 in the lever 45. This lever is connected to rod 25 by a roller-type ratchet mechanism 48 indicated only diagrammatically in FIG. 6. The ratchet mechanism insures that the rod 25 is caused to rotate only when the lever 45 pivots clockwise, i.e. upwards in FIG. 6; when the lever 45 descends the rod 25 stands still. The rod is therefore operated intermittently. Its average peripheral speed is greater than the speed of the cloth 15 where the cloth contacts the rod, so that with screw threads on the rod of the same hand as the threads 36a, 38a in FIG. 5, operation is the same as described in connection with FIG. 5.

A shift of the coupling 46 for example to the right in FIG. 6 causes a corresponding increase in the angle of rotation A through which the lever 45 moves at each revolution of shaft 40. The average peripheral speed of the rod 25 therefore also increases. The shaft 40 is generally operated at a speed equal to the picking rate of the loom so that the rod 25 is advanced one step for each pick. The amount of this step can be varied by making an adjustment at 46, by which means the spreading action of the temple on the cloth can also be varied.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the loom shaft 38 drives by way of gears 51, 52 and 53 a gear 54 rotatably mounted on the gripper rod 25. A clutch plate 56 with a friction lining 55 is fixed to the rod 25, and a second clutch plate 57, also having a friction lining 55, is mounted on the rod 25 so that it must rotate with it but can move axially along it. This plate 57 is biased toward plate 56 by a spring 58 whose force, which is directed to the left, can be adjusted by means of a nut 59.

In this embodiment, otherwise very similar to that of FIG. 5, elements 54 to 59 form a friction clutch between the drive 40 and the rod 25. The speed of the gear 54 need not be the same as that of the rod 25. On the contrary, there may be slippage such as to produce a certain constant torque the value of which depends upon the force of the spring 58. The rod 25 is therefore turned only far enough to produce equilibrium with the resistance of the spread cloth 15.

If the torque is increased, e.g. by increasing the tension of spring 58, the spreading action also increases.

In alternative embodiments not shown, a drive such as the belt drive 39 of FIG. or the friction clutch 54 to 59 in FIG. 7 can be used to drive the rod 25 in the opposite direction to the movement of the cloth or in the same direction as the cloth but with the clamping rod 25 having a peripheral speed lower than the linear speed of movement of the cloth. If the rod is driven to rotate so that the surface thereof in contact with the cloth moves in the direction opposite to that of the motion of the cloth, the rod 25 must be provided with threads having the handedness shown in FIG. 4. Alternatively, the cloth can be wrapped around the clamping rod in the direction opposite that shown for it in FIG. 2. Thus, referring to FIG. 2, the cloth can enter the temple at 28 and leave it at 27. In that event, the temple 16 may be placed so that it inclines upwardly and to the left in FIG. 2 from the fell 13 towards the breast beam 17, the cloth 15 leaving the temple at 27 and passing below the temple to the breast beam 17 on the left. If the cloth thus enters the slot 24 at 28 and leaves it at 27, passing counterclockwise in FIG. 2 around the rod instead of clockwise as it does as actually shown in FIG. 2, the handedness of the threads on the rod must be reversed from that applying, for the same condition of rotation of the rod, with the sense of cloth passage shown in FIG. 2.

Thus with the sense of cloth passage actually shown in FIG. 2, if the clockwise peripheral speed of the rod is algebraically less than the peripheral clockwise speed of the cloth, the thread on the end of the rod above the plane of FIG. 2 must be left-handed, as shown at 38 in FIG. 4, and the sense of the thread on the end of the rod below the plane of FIG. 2 must be right-handed, as shown at 36 in FIG. 4. With the sense of cloth passage shown in FIG. 2 but with an average peripheral clockwise speed for the rod al ebraically greater than that of the rod, as is assumed in FIG. 5, the end of the rod above the plane of FIG. 2 must have a right-handed thread, as is shown at 38a in FIG. 5, and the end of the rod below the plane of FIG. 2 must have a left-handed thread, as shown at 36a in FIG. 5. Each of these handednesses will be reversed if in FIG. 2 the cloth enters at 28 and passes out of the slot 24 at 29.

As shown in FIG. 8, the rod 25 of any of the embodiments described may be made in two or more parts. In the construction shown in FIG. 8 it has a polygonal, e.g. hexagonal, core 61 carrying for example two threaded sleeves 36 and 38 for engagement with the edges of the fabric and a smooth-surface sleeve 62 in the center. By changing the sleeves, and particularly the central sleeve 62, the clamping rod 25 can be adapted to the weaving width desired.

In a modification of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 wherein the rod 25 is stationary, the rod is made with a non-circular cross-section, e.g. elongated or oval, but with thread-like grooves 36 and 38 having the handedness shown in FIG. 4 and described in connection therewith. The effective length of the periphery of the rod on which the cloth engages the thread-like grooves can therefore be enlarged and the spreading action thereby increased.

In another embodiment of the invention there are provided two individual temples which extends only over the selvage areas of the cloth 15, i.e. approximately over the widths indicated at 63 and 64 in FIG. 3. Of these temples that at 63 is shaped substantially like the lefthand portion of the clamping rod in FIG. 4 and that at 64 like the right-hand portion of the rod of FIG. 4.

With this construction, both temples must be extended outward and prevented from rotating, e.g. by a stop screw, in the same way as is done only at one end of the single temple in FIG. 3.

A temple extending over the whole weaving width 22 may be used in looms producing two or more adjacent widths of cloth simultaneously. The construction of a temple with relative motion between the gripper rod 25 and cloth 15 is not dependent on the type of loom. In FIG. 3 it is assumed that the weft is picked by a shuttle 12 carrying a pirn. Alternatively, however, a gripper shuttle, or picking lances or other means can be used for picking the weft.

While the invention has been described hereinabove in terms of a number of presently preferred embodiments, the invention itself is not limited thereto but rather comprehends all modifications on and departures from those embodiments properly falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A temple for a loom, said temple comprising a bar extending crosswise of the loom, said bar having a longitudinal slot therein, a rod disposed in said slot, said rod having threads of opposite hand for-med thereon for engagement With cloth woven in the loom, andmeans to effect relative motion between the periphery of said rod and said cloth.

2. A temple according to claim 1 wherein said means to effect relative motion include means to hold said rod stationary with respect to said bar.

3. A temple according to claim 1 wherein said means to effect relative motion include means to rotate said rod continuously relative to said bar.

4. A temple according to claim 3 wherein said means to effect relative rotation include a slipping clutch.

References Cited 252,997 2/1948 Switzerland.

JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 26-65; 139-419 

